To ask which solicitor to use for a road traffic accident claim?

[RemarkableLemur]

Ok I know I'm BU using AIBU for this, but I never know where to post a random general question and get a decent amount of views (feel free to suggest for future!)

Can any of you recommend a solicitor to use for a whiplash claim? The one I'm talking to is 'no win no fee' but charges 25% if you win the claim. Not sure if everyone charges 25% or some charge less?

YABU for raising a whiplash claim. My insurance is going up every year because of people like you.

Yup, YABU. If you had a genuine case for out-of-pocket expenses you’d not need to go to a no-win no-fee vulture-solicitor

You have whiplash? Yeah, sure you do.

I'm sure one will contact you shortly, they're always ringing me, and I haven't even been in an accident.

My accident was over a year ago. I am still suffering pain in my neck, back, shoulder, hips. This summer I had to take many months off due to not being able to sit down. NHS waiting lists were so lengthy that I spent my last money on a private MRI, private chiropractor, private physio. I've run out of money for more physio and I'm still in pain.

So yeah, I've decided to claim.

Oh yeah and my car was totally written off and the insurance gave me £200 to buy a new one. So I'm out of pocket as well as having my body ruined.

Lots of solicitors called me at the time, they all sounded aggressive, I was very put off claiming.

This is why I'm asking for recommendations.

Could you talk to your insurance company to discuss claiming back those expenses?

Do you have legal cover on your motor insurance? This will appoint a solicitor for you.

Failing which go to the Law Society website, you'll be able to get a list of local/ national forms dealing with personal injury. Deducting a contingency fee is fairly standard now that solicitors only receive £600 costs for most low value injury claims.

Firms not forms.

@AnotherDelphinium - vulture feels like the right word to describe the types of pushy people who called me every day after my accident.

How do I know the non-vulture solicitor from the vulture solicitor?! I'll happily call the non-vulture types. I'm just not sure what I'm looking for having never been in this situation until now.

Thanks Grenlei, I'll look on that website tomorrow, sounds like a good starting point.

I'm not sure if I have legal cover or not. Also I've changed insurer since my accident so not sure if I'd need to look at the old insurer or the current one.

Cheesey - my previous insurer passed my details on to this solicitor that I phoned today who are offering the 'no win no fee' thing, but will also take 25% success fee.

Personal injury claim would go through your insurance. Why would you appoint a third party?
If you are injured as a result of someone’s actions and suffered financial and physical detriment your insurer will sort this out for you under your motor legal cover. If you don’t have legal cover (it’s often an optional extra) they will still be able to help in many cases but may take a certain amount of any compensation awarded as a fee. Nowhere near 25% though.

The relevant legal cover will be attached to the policy at the time of the accident, doesn't matter if you have a different insurer now.

Just saw your last post. You need to contact the insurer you were with at the time of the accident. They will tell you if you have legal cover you don’t need to worry about finding documents

Thanks Rose789 I'll call them tomorrow. I didn't know I could go directly through them, because they passed me on to their chosen solicitor, but I've just realised that that solicitor could have lied about my details being passed on by my insurer. I'm trying to remember how all the conversations went, but I was quite upset at the time so it's a bit of a blur.

Also thanks Grenlei

OP that sounds significantly worse than whiplash-type injuries. People read whiplash and think fraud so ignore some of the snider comments.

If you go on the law society website and narrow down the search to personal injury solicitors. That’ll narrow down to some names and you can email round for quotes for % deduction. Circa 20pc is industry standard for that type of claim though. This way at least you’re going direct to a sol and not a claims management company.

Are you in a union? If so contact them as they may cover this.

Hope your recovery goes smoother.

It's not unheard of for less scrupulous firms to claim they have been instructed by insurers when they haven't; contact your old insurers and go from there.

A word of caution - you may find your claim is viewed with suspicion by the insurer of the other driver as you will be presenting a claim late in the day. Make sure you keep any receipts, dates of medical appointments, treatments etc as this will be helpful as evidence that you were genuinely injured and are still symptomatic.

“Personal injury claim would go through your insurance. Why would you appoint a third party?”

Because insurance panel sols tend to be the cheapest around (not the best) and are on a retainer so don’t care about the amount you receive.

No win no fee solicitors are very good at saying they are working on behalf of insurers when in fact the insurers have never heard of them.
Your insurer is very unlikely to refer to a no win no fee solicitor unless the accident was your fault. Insurers will only deal if there is more then a 51% chance of winning a claim. If they don’t think you would win they could refer to a third party but it would be shoddy practice.
Speak to the claims department they will be able to let you know where you stand

I did a personal injury claim via legal cover on my home insurance after I was knocked off my bike by a car. I got excellent solicitors (and an excellent payout!) and didn’t have to pay a penny other than the £25 or so it had cost me to add it on to my policy.

I'm a personal injury lawyer (or vulture as some obviously prefer).

I deal with all kinds of claims. Feel free to message me if you'd like any more information OP.

Thanks so much for all the helpful comments. I'm now back at work so I'll get back on to this when I've recovered from going back to work after the holidays!